Five Worlds
by DA2003
Summary: Rescuing a small child from the clutches of HYDRA, Batman inadvertently starts a chain of events that encompasses a World that someone realises shouldn't be... AU One Chapter Fic with more to hopefully follow


Five Worlds

Gotham City, February:

The docks of Gotham City were always a place to avoid at this time of year. Not just for the weather with the cold wind from the Atlantic going through anyone in Port Adams like an icy knife, but also for the crime that infested the area. Oh, it had gotten better the last few years certainly as the Bat stalked Gotham's darkest corners and that made everyone nervous. But even with the city's dark protector stalking the streets, the plague of crime was ever present and none more so than a small warehouse hidden away among the storage facilities along the docks.

For some months, the warehouse had been rented out to a person who made cash deliveries via a courier. As the envelopes containing the cash usually contained an extra five hundred dollars more than necessary, not too many questions were asked regarding the content that was being stored there. No one came round to check as several trucks dropped off large crates and construction materials to the warehouse and no one thought for a moment about why whoever was renting it out used their own private security of large men with large guns who discouraged any questions or prying eyes even further.

It was tonight especially that saw the security more pronounced than ever. At least fifteen men patrolled around the building, making sure no one got in or out. Within the building, the secret it contained was apparent once you stepped inside. Instead of a wide open storage area, the building had been separated into several smaller rooms, each one designed for a distinct purpose. A single corridor had been formed from one end of the building to the other, a guard posted out each of the eight rooms. Security was stronger than usual tonight; an operation was taking place that could change the way their organisation worked.

The guard outside the eighth room (Simply given the title of Eight for this mission) in the corridor kept a stern eye directly in front of him. He knew the punishment that would be handed out if any failure happened tonight and was not willing to risk such a fate. The extra security had come in from all around the state, a new conscript had come in and it had taken twenty men to bring her in, twelve of them had yet to recover from their injuries from the mission and were currently resting in the small infirmary of the warehouse.

Eight idly wondered how much trouble the girl was. He had seen the girl when she'd been brought in, she couldn't have been more than eleven years old but had apparently taken the best efforts of the group to capture her and even that needed backup in the form of tracking technology and a long distance weaponry, trying to get in close had resulted in two men getting their jaws broken. Eight mentally shrugged, whatever plans the Council had in store for her, it wasn't his place to question them.

Time ticked by and Eight remained in place. He was at the very end of the corridor, up against the wall on his side with only the dull, grey corridor and the men in their uniforms in it. It seemed that it would be a long night yet without incident when it started. It was a faint noise at first, one raised voice from just outside the door leading to outside followed quickly by silence. That seemed to be it until a second voice was raised and a gun shot rang out in the silence.

In an instant, the guards reacted to the sound by pulling out their own weapons and aiming towards the door. Several more men pulled out from some of the rooms, pulling their guns from their holsters as they got into a defensive position. From eight guards, there were now fifteen, two nursing their wired jaws. It took only seconds for fifteen guns to be pointed at the only entrance to the warehouse and anyone who tried to come in without first stating the password would soon find themselves dead on the ground.

That was the plan anyway, up until the lights went out. There was a moment where every man blinked in surprise before the sound of the door opening was heard. Overlooking their surprise very quickly, every single man opened fire in front of them, firing wildly as they no longer had anything to look at as a target. The men had a range of weapons from handguns to semi-automatics and several dozen bullets were unleashed towards the entrance of the warehouse in only a few short seconds.

When the sound of gunshots finished echoing throughout the hallway, there was a pause as the door creaked open slowly, letting in the only a slim ray of Moonlight. Eight breathed out in relief, there were rumours of Gotham's protector, that he stalked the streets at night, hunting down all criminals and there were even rumours that he drank their blood. Eight knew that even a blood sucking creature of the night couldn't have withstood that barrage of bullets.

The commander of the group was heard in the darkness ordering "Three, Seven, Ten, go out there and see if what happened to the others. We'll..."

The light at the door suddenly flickered as a shadow came through it. The commander paused in shock before he started to give another order to open fire only for it to die in his throat, a gurgle the only sound coming from him. Only seconds after, a scream was heard as another man was taken down. Eight felt panic well up in him as the rumours of Gotham's protector came crashing into his memory as well his rising panic concerning his situation. They had unloaded hundreds of bullets into him and he was still alive? What were they facing?

Eight couldn't see, the light coming from the open door was insufficient to see anything but a thin strip of floor. Around him, Eight could hear the sound of an absolutely brutal set of beatings as one by one, his compatriots were downed by their attacker. Out of desperation and muscle memory, Eight had managed to reload into his handgun when he heard a low groan from his right. Twisting in that direction, Eight fired wildly, unleashing his entire clip of ammo in desperate fear of what was going on.

Nine bullets were sent straight to their target, Eight hoping beyond hope that they had hit. After the echoes died down and there was no response, Eight let out a huge of relief "C-Commander?" He called out "A-Are you there?"

"No, he isn't." Came a voice from behind Eight, his heart plummeting as he realised his target had survived once more. Eight felt his blood turn to ice as he thought of what he was facing, a Mutant? A monster? Something that bullets couldn't kill and seemed to be resolved on destroying him...

Eight turned around and struck out his arm, desperately hoping to strike the attacker and put run while he was recovering. This was stopped short when the figure grabbed the arm and twisted it to almost breaking point, causing Eight to fall to one knee and scream in pain. The panic was overrunning his mind as thoughts of his fate at this monster of the night struck him to his core "WHAT ARE YOU?" He screamed "WHAT ARE YOU?"

In the darkness, there were only two slits of whiteness that were visible that must have been the being's eyes. For Eight, it looked as if they were those of a Demon from Hell. The slits got closer as whoever it was put their face next to Eight's, the voice coming once more, deep and gravelly that caused the final remains of Eight's courage to collapse "I'm Batman."

XxX

Several minutes after Eight had been subdued, two figures rushed through the darkness, moving in and out of the shadows to avoid being seen but going as fast as they could. Near the warehouse where Batman had struck, they stopped as one put a hand up to his ear, drowning out any other sound as he listed to his communicator "Iron Man? It's Cap. We're almost in position; you got a sight of it yet?"

There was a moment's pause before the reply came "_Almost, damn things all look the same to me._"

"Just concentrate on finding it." Came the order "We need to know how many we're up against here."

"Does it matter?" The second man asked behind Cap "We just need to go in there and get the weapon they're holding right? Take whoever's there down good and hard."

Cap looked behind at his companion with a frown. He would have preferred to have more members of the League with them at this point but by the time they had got a hold of the coded messages from HYDRA and managed to decode them, there was little time to do anything else than go to Gotham with whoever was at hand. He had fought with Iron Man and Hawkeye before on multiple occasions and trusted them with his life but on this occasion, he didn't know exactly what they were walking into. The messages had spoken of the warehouse being used by HYDRA agents to store a sort of weapon. What sort hadn't been mentioned but it had been enough to cause Cap to call whoever he could to help him smash the outpost and take the weapon away from them.

Dragging Cap from his thoughts was Iron Man replying once more. This time, his voice was a lot less confident "_Cap? Hawkeye? I don't think you'll need to worry about having a tough time busting into this place. Security's already been taken care of._"

Cap and Hawkeye shared a glance before suddenly breaking into a run, not stopping until they had reached their target and saw the numerous unconscious bodies strewn across the floor. Barely seconds after they arrived, Iron Man touched down, surveying the sight before them "Not what I was expecting I have to admit." He said dryly before looking over to the door into the building. It was hung open and no noise came from inside while it was impossible to see what was inside past the darkness.

Shifting his shield into a ready throwing position, Cap stepped forward "Be prepared. Whoever did this knows exactly what they're doing and is going to be very dangerous."

With that, Hawkeye grabbed an arrow and slotted it into his bow, nodding at Cap as the three moved forward. Iron Man led the charge as he sent luminous goo to the ceiling as he burst through the doorway, the material sticking to the ceiling and offering a dim red light over the area. Hawkeye and Cap followed him to survey the scene, yet more unconscious bodies were littered around the place although at the very end of it, a man sat in the corner, huddled and shaking madly in fear.

"B... Ba... Ba..." He muttered over and over again, evidently scared out of his wits.

Cap rushed up to the man, grabbing him by his uniform and pulling him up to his feet "What happened here? Who did this?" He barked, needing to break the man out of his state to find the answers.

Eight blinked a few times from the words before he managed to stutter out "Th-The Bat!" He looked around, checking the darkness as if still terrified that which he spoke of remained "H-He took the g-girl!"

Hawkeye and Iron Man shared a glance before both of them turned towards the doors lining the corridor. Three of them were open and quickly investigated as the two peered in. One turned out to be a set of small barracks with some small cots while the second was a holding cell; four huge chunks had been carved out of the wall, the plaster still fresh on the floor from where it had been carved away. Hawkeye walked over to the wall and in the dim light, peered keenly at it, seeing several flakes of dust fall to the floor "This looks fresh. Whoever did it was only here a short time ago."

As Iron Man and Hawkeye quickly investigated the cell, Cap walked into the third room after cuffing Eight and telling him to stay where he was. The man appeared to be too scared to do anything else. From the dim glow of Iron Man's flare, Cap stared into the room and saw a large computer that seemed to run against the entire wall. The lights and screens on it still functioned, a small independent generator sat in the corner as it powered the computer.

Walking over to the computer, Cap glanced at the screen in the middle as it displayed a single message _"DOWNLOAD COMPLETE."_ Whoever had attacked the guards had seemingly taken whatever data they had from the computer as well; it must have been one of their targets "Iron Man! I think this something for you to look at." Cap shouted as he continued to scan the computer for any clues, overlooking a small flashing light near the top.

It only took Iron Man a second to scan the computer after entering the room before nodding and stepping up to it "So, looks like whoever got here before us knew what they wanted. Hopefully the data will still be on here and we'll manage to salvage something from… What the…?" Iron Man stopped as he noticed the blinking light near the top suddenly speed up to a remarkable pace into a near constant light before letting out a whine and then a flash of light.

Within an instant, the computer went dark as the light stopped blinking and went silent "What was that?" Cap asked as he opened the door, allowing in some more light from the flare Iron Man had shot, the room in total darkness without it.

"A damn EMP device!" Iron Man said in frustration as he tried tapping onto the keys of the computer to no avail "The computer's completely wiped now! It's useless!" Pounding his fist into the machine, Iron Man turned back to Cap "Whoever did this knows exactly what they were after and sure as Hell didn't want us or anyone else following up on it. Who did the guard say did this? A bat?"

"The Bat." Cap replied as he stepped back into the hallways with the unconscious bodies, Hawkeye standing over the still conscious and gibbering man. He looked down at the HYDRA agent, wondering just what had happened to unnerve him that badly "Have you checked the other rooms?" He asked Hawkeye.

"All empty." The archer replied "Nothing in them except some stuff you'd expect for a HYDRA outpost. Looks like whoever beat us to the punch took anything of value and left us with the clean up duties." Hawkeye grunted in frustration as he looked down at the HYDRA agent "Typical. Should we call in SHIELD to bring in a group to take these guys in or leave it to the local guys?"

"I'll get SHIELD in." Cap said as he tapped the communicator at his ear to get it on SHIELD's frequency.

Hawkeye nodded at that before seeing Iron Man walk through the door, the EMP bomb in his hands as he started to take it apart "Got a new toy there?" Hawkeye asked with a grin as Iron Man stepped into the pale light.

Looking up from the device in his hands, Iron Man glanced at Hawkeye, the metal mask obscuring his true expression although the way he held his gaze for several awkward seconds showed some exasperation "This is an EMP device." He said before turning back to it "Whoever left it here has access to some high quality technical gear. You can't get an item like this from just about anywhere. You have to have either some real money or know the back entrance to a very high tech lab."

"They get the key off you?" Hawkeye sarcastically asked before Iron Man went back to work, ignoring his partners as he scanned over the EMP device, looking for hints as to its origin. Cap lowered his hand before turning back to Hawkeye and Iron Man "SHIELD pick up will be here in a few minutes. They'd already got my message about the outpost here." Heading over to the HYDRA agent, Cap saw he was still a quivering mess that wouldn't give a coherent answer without copious amount of drugs to calm him down first.

"Just what happened here?" He asked out loud, the scene still puzzling him. They had arrived too late to get what they had wanted and been left with a HYDRA outpost completely devastated. In the poor light the flare offered, there seemed to be few answers and it would take the light of day before anything would be gained.

XxX

Miles away, a sleek back car left the outskirts of Gotham City and headed in the direction of a heavily wooded area. Within the car, the Batman drove while his mind was focusing on other issues. He could make this journey by instinct and memory while his thoughts focused on other things. The warehouse he had been watching for months had finally forced him to act. While loathing HYDRA's very presence in Gotham, Batman hadn't brought it down on the basis that no operations were being staged from it and he wanted to know what it was doing in his city.

It had taken him two solid months to crack the encryption HYDRA used to hide their messages and it had revealed that the outpost was simply to scout Gotham for potential operations. No HYDRA activity happened within the city since then until he had come across one message that told of a powerful weapon being transferred through Gotham to a major HYDRA base on the East Coast. Rather than risk such a weapon falling completely into HYDRA's hands, Batman had struck only to realise the weapon had far from what he had been expecting. In the seat beside Batman, the young girl stirred slightly in her slumber, the drugs HYDRA had given her still having an effect. Batman gave her a glance and frowned, the tranquilisers she had been given were apparently enough to knock out six men twice her size, never mind the extreme effort it had taken to bring her in. Wearing only some old, worn jeans with a t-shirt that was several sizes too small, she looked like any kid off the street, long unkempt black hair with a thin frame and she appeared to be of East Asian descent. He turned back to the road, not recognising her from any missing child reports and thinking of any other clue to her identity.

The brief interrogation of the HYDRA agent had revealed enough to confirm the effort the group had put behind capturing the girl, something that had confirmed his earlier suspicions when he felt the jaws of several of the guards feeling out of place as he punched them. For several moments, Batman considered the idea the girl may be a Mutant of some kind but decided to leave the conclusions until she had woken up.

Now reaching the forests the obscured the road leading to the northern exit of Gotham City, Batman pressed a button on the dashboard of his car that would open the way to the Batcave. Making a sharp turn to the right into a hidden path among the trees, the car spent only seconds amongst the foliage before going through an opening into the rocky cliff face before him. A strip of moonlight went entered the dark caves briefly before the wall once more shut and the car sped along in the black for several seconds before finally arriving in the artificial light of the Batcave.

Within seconds, the car had stopped and the roof pulled back, the cool air feeling somewhat relieving. Batman got out only to see a familiar figure standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the mansion upstairs "Have you waited there all night?" Batman asked, the less than usual gruff tone of voice showing that there was some humour to the question.

"Merely cleaning up after Master Dick's pre-bedtime criminal studies." Alfred responded "He thought that hot chocolate could be perfectly balanced whilst on the keyboard of the main computer."

For an instant, Batman looked over to the computer before seeing that it was completely clean and practically sparkling, Alfred was indeed a miracle worker. It was then that Alfred craned his neck over to the car as he noticed someone in the Batmobile "Another guest master Bruce?"

Turning around to the girl, Batman nodded "She was a victim of an attempted HYDRA kidnapping and as far as I can be sure, she has no family or home. I'm afraid you'll need to help take care of our new lodger until I can find out where she's come from."

Rather than be exasperated to this latest turn of events, Alfred merely nodded in his affable way "I shall set the bed in the Cave for her and prepare some nourishing soup. I take it the girl has a name?"

Reaching down to his utility belt, Batman opened one of the pouches and pulled out a memory stick that contained all the information he was able to gain from HYDRA's computer "That's what I'm about to find out." He said as he placed the stick by the computer before helping Alfred to take the girl to the bed, making her as comfortable as possible.

XxX

Several hours later, the computer screen was finally starting to show the results of Batman's efforts. The information had come with its own encryption that had taken some time to decode and not all of it was about the girl although it did offer valuable insight into plans HYDRA had for Gotham, something Batman planned to counter before too long. After sifting through practically everything, he finally found a small text and video file under the name 'CAIN'. Opening the text file first, Batman was disappointed to find that it was short and only held cherry picked information about the girl's skills although that did make interesting reading.

"_Reflexes, agility and physical condition above that of an Olympic level athlete… Proficient in a wide variety of martial arts, master over several including Ansatsuken… Instincts and senses better than almost all others who aren't Mutants… Check video for insight into combat capability."_

The information was limited but was enough to convince Batman of why HYDRA had wanted the girl. If the information was accurate enough, then she had the potential to be one of the World's greatest fighters, if she wasn't already. With their brainwashing capabilities, HYDRA could have very well turned her into an assassin of unimaginable skill. With the information now memorised, Batman then accessed the video file to see and empty path beside several trees at a spot in Robinson Park in the green colouring that denoted night vision.

A few seconds later, a figure walked onto the screen, Batman recognising her as the girl. She walked with a degree of alertness about her, completely tense as if she was about to flee or fight depending on the situation. A few moments later showed why as a group of twelve people dressed in HYDRA uniforms stepped out of the shadows to surround her. All of them were armed with what appeared to be cattle prods and instantly went on the attack, all twelve of them rushing to catch the girl off guard. In this, they failed as the ambush didn't even seem to faze her as she went into a defensive stance.

Despite her being looking as if she was barely in her pre-teens, the girl showed the sort of moves and ability Batman knew he was capable of on a good night. Every time a HYDRA agent rushed forward to attack, she responded flawlessly with a strike and blow that sent them reeling. There didn't appear to be much strength to her attacks but there didn't need to be, all of them worked on weakening her opponents to the extent that Batman could see they would collapse long before she did. She knew where to hit, when to hit and how to cause the most amount of damage.

Leaning in, Batman looked further as the girl slowly wound down as her attackers no longer got up from the floor. With only four of them still standing, albeit none of them steady in doing so, four men appeared behind the girl with rifles in their hands as they quickly raised their weapons and started firing. Despite being behind the girl and having the element of surprise, she effortlessly dodged the rapid fire of four guns with all the grace of a dancer. Batman had to admit he was impressed as he watched this; the girl didn't put a single foot wrong as she weaved through the shots without a single scratch on her.

The same couldn't be said for her original attackers however as they were pummelled by their less than caring colleagues. Looking closer, Batman could see that they appeared to be darts of some kind. Considering the need to bring her in alive, tranquiliser guns were certainly what had been used. After some time, the firing stopped without a single dart having hit its intended target. The girl tensed up and began to turn; evidently feeling that escaping was better than any revenge before she was stopped short as a small round object was thrown right in front of her. Acting out of instinct, the girl kicked it out of the way only for the screen to turn white as the flare grenade exploded from the contact.

Blinking from the sudden bright light, Batman managed to focus before the screen returned to normal as the flare died down, revealing that the girl had been shot by the HYDRA agents and at least five darts could be seen protruding from her body. By some innate strength, she remained on her feet however although she stood uncertainly, trying to get her bearings as the tranquilisers really kicked in. Her reflexes dulled considerably, the girl was unable to dodge another round of darts as three more of them hit her in the torso, forcing her to her knees before the remaining HYDRA agents moved in quickly, three of them holding her down as she struggled while the last one took a syringe from a pouch on his belt and put it into her neck, injecting her with further tranquilisers.

For several seconds the girl continued to try and push herself towards escape but eventually the drugs had their effect and she passed out, the one who had injected her turning to the camera and giving a thumbs up. A hand from whoever was carrying the camera was seen at the screen as they returned the gesture and then switched it off, ending the video. After it was done, Batman leaned back in his chair and thought about what he'd seen.

A girl, name and origins unknown with the fighting prowess and skill of a person who would have had to normally be at least four times the girl's age to reach. There was nothing in any files or databases that could identify her and it was very plausible she wasn't from Gotham in the first place. She was a vagrant, an unknown person with no history or background. It was if that she had sprung out of the ground.

A small rustling sound caused Batman to turn around to pinpoint where it came from. Looking over to the bed, he saw it now lay empty with the sheets lying halfway on the ground. The girl continued to impress, going from unconsciousness due to tranquilisers to stealth actions in less than a minute. Rising slowly from his chair, Batman glanced around the Cave, not seeing the girl at all "I have no intention of hurting you." He said out loud "You're no longer in a HYDRA base, with friends. You don't have to be afraid."

Silence followed for several long moments before the girl finally stepped out of the shadows from the right of Batman. Her guard was still up and she looked at him keenly, as if waiting for him to make a move. Seeing this, Batman lets his sat back down, showing he was no threat to the girl as he returned the look "What's your name?" He asked, hoping to get some answers from her.

The girl remained silent, offering nothing in the way of an answer as she continued to stare directly at Batman. Seeing no impact, he tried a different tact "Do you speak English? Qu'o yu? Nihongo? Tagalog?"

The girl's expression finally changed as she shook her head, showing a trace of sadness as she covered her lips with her hand before then clenching them as she made a fist. Batman frowned in confusion before thinking back to the video; she never said a word in that, she hadn't needed to. Everything she had done was based off body language and her understanding of it "You… Can't speak can you?" Batman asked, understanding finally dawning "The only thing you can use for communication is your body…"

Batman rose from his chair and slowly walked over to the girl, making no quick movements before kneeling down so he could look her in the eye. Whatever home the girl had previously, the fact it had resulted in her unable to talk and with fighting prowess that would have taken training beyond any normal child's capabilities, it was not a home that was worth returning to "It's alright. You won't be hurt here; this is your home for as long as you want. I promise that you'll be safe."

The words seemed to have an impact. The girl couldn't reply verbally but she seemed to get a sense of earnestness and warmth from Batman that his usual tone usually couldn't convey. Her mouth curled up in a small smile before she brought her right hand up, clenched it into a fist and then pressed it against Batman's palm. He paused before understanding that this was the nearest the girl could get to acknowledging a friendship. Nodding in understanding, Batman rose back to his feet "Now then, let's get something to eat, for both of us."

Though Alfred had prepared some chicken soup, it had been set aside earlier in a Dewar flask and was still relatively hot. Both Batman and the girl ate in silence, the former deep in thought about these new developments and where to go to next.

SHIELD Holding Facility, New York, February:

Behind the cover of a two way mirror, Cap overlooked the interrogation of the HYDRA agent who had remained conscious throughout the ordeal last night. He had been grilled for seven solid hours; three of them spent just trying to get him to make a lick of sense. After working through that process, the story slowly started to come together. The HYDRA Agent (Who had revealed his name to be Robert), told what had happened from his point of view, the girl being brought in, the lights going out and then the attack and above all, the fact that the Batman had taken the girl.

Cap watched as the interrogation finally ended and Robert was led away to his cell. They had gotten all they could from him and Cap had just looked in while passing to get what information he could first hand. A debriefing had been scheduled for the morning about the events of the previous night and what information they had managed to get from the other captives SHIELD had brought in. Walking out from the small room meant for watching over the interrogations, Cap then started to head towards the briefing room, eager to gain whatever information he could.

Upon reaching the briefing room, Cap got an unpleasant surprise in the form of Nick Fury. Not that he disliked the man, but his showing up at this particular time didn't exactly bode well. Fury gave Cap a small nod as he made his way to the table where the briefing was to take place "No need to stand on ceremony. It seems we have a situation in Gotham."

Cap sat down at that, not liking it one bit "Managed to uncover any information regarding the girl?" He asked as he sat down on a chair opposite Fury, wondering just what she had been capable of and why HYDRA was so keen on getting her.

"Not exactly." Fury answered "Although she has something to do with it." He pushed over several pieces of paper to Cap, showing the details of what SHIELD had learned from the interrogations of the HYDRA agents. Reading through it, Cap discovered some increasingly disturbing facts about the operation. One HYDRA agent had revealed that the orders to kidnap the girl had come from the Ruling Council of HYDRA but had been told that she would be handed over to Talia al Ghul.

Finishing reading the papers, Cap looked back up to Fury "They took her under orders from HYDRA and were going to hand her over to the League of Assassins? I thought they had little dealings with each other."

"That was what we had previously known." Fury replied "But this link between them certainly doesn't sound good for us although I suppose we should have seen it coming. We've been pounding HYDRA pretty hard the last few months, they've been weakened and it looks as if they've turned to the League for help."

Cap digested this bit of information, not liking it one bit. He had comes across the League of Assassins once before and there were always rumours of the group's shadowy leader although only Talia was the only one known to be handing out orders. There influence and power was remarkable and if they were regrouping with HYDRA, then it could only mean the worst "So where does the girl come into it all?" Cap asked, trying to see why the connection was there.

Fury's normally calm face momentarily turned into a frown of frustration at the question "Damned if I know." He admitted with some reluctance "Managed to get a few hair samples but they turned up negative. No medical or any other kind of records neither to identify her nor to link her to any family. As far as we can tell, she's only a Human without any real powers." He held up his hand to silence the protest coming from Cap "I know what some of the HYDRA agents said about them being beat down by a freakin' nine year old girl but do you honestly believe that a kid could do that to over a dozen trained HYDRA agents?"

"I do have three aliens on speed dial you know." Cap said with a hint of humour "To be honest Fury, ever since I was thawed out, a child defeating some criminals' ranks pretty low on the strange scale."

Fury looked at Cap oddly for a moment before nodding "Alright, point noted." He said gruffly "But there's the fact that any handover was disrupted by the Batman. And that's a damned mystery to itself."

Cap paused at that, his thoughts going back to what he thought he knew about Gotham's protector "So he does exist then? All I've heard is that he's some kind of urban myth."

"He's real alright. Keeps only to Gotham and himself though which is a damn tragedy. Able to take down a HYDRA outpost without backup, beating us to the punch and destroying all information before it fell back into HYDRA's hands?" Fury shook his head in obvious frustration "Hell, I'd love to have a guy like that working for me. He's like a ghost though, no way to contact him if he doesn't want to be talked too. And believe me, I've tried."

"No clue as to who's behind the mask?"

"We suspected Wayne for a while…"

Cap raised an eyebrow at that, allowing his scepticism to show "You don't mean Bruce Wayne do you?"

A smirk crossed Fury's face at that "I know. But look at it from when we first started looking into it. He's the second richest man in America, disappeared for years when he was young, only resurfaced about four years ago and his parents were killed right in front of him when he was a kid. He's got the means, the gap in his life to allow for training and a damn good motive to boot."

"So what doesn't he have?"

"The brains God gave a turnip." Fury said bluntly "I had six agents follow him for three months and all they could find out was that Wayne was a skirt chasing dunce with a taste for the high life. Everything at his company's done by the real brains, Lucius Fox and his home life is largely organised by the family butler. I had to pull the plug on the whole operation as we still got reports of Batman's activities even when we knew Wayne was holed up in his mansion. We think he might be helping finance Batman secretly but we've nothing concrete towards it." Fury shrugged in dismissal "This doesn't help us with what's at hand though, namely finding out what the new connection between HYDRA and the League of Assassins is."

Cap nodded in agreement, his mind coming up with one solution "I'll go to Gotham myself and look into the situation. Maybe even get some help from the local police force."

Looking up at that, Fury simply shook his head "I wouldn't bet on it. Any agents I sent were brushed off as soon as the local cops even so much as looked at them."

A smile spread across Cap's face as he rose from his chair "That's because a bunch of SHIELD agents were butting their noses in business that they had no place to be involved with. I'm Captain America asking about a lost girl."

Fury looked up as Cap faced him, a glint in his eye as he nodded his assent "Keep on your toes. If you do run across the Batman, strike first, he isn't quite the gentleman that you are."

"I'm sure I'll manage to talk with him. He took the child away from HYDRA and the League after all. Even Angels walk in the shadows at times."

The Himalayas, Border of India and China, February:

In a darkened cell within the bowels of the World's most daunting mountain range, Baron von Strucker kneeled, heavy chains binding his arms and legs against in a foetal like position. His mouth was gagged and he had been sitting in utter darkness for two days now. His capture only days before had been a humiliating experience and despite his best efforts, escape had remained impossible. Denied food and drink, Strucker remained in a weakened condition and only his inner strength had prevented him from passing out. He would have his revenge, of that he was certain.

Just as Strucker was contemplating yet another escape attempt though, the door to his cell opened and in stepped a huge mountain of a man, his eyes glimmering in the poor light as he looked down at Strucker. Stepping to one side, another man entered the cell, this one with a much more refined look and Strucker felt bile rise up to his throat in fury at the very sight of him. The smaller man motioned with his hand and the cell suddenly lit up, making Strucker clench his eyes in agony from the sudden change in his surroundings.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news Strucker." The smaller man said, keeping a stoic expression as he walked forward, the taller man reaching over and yanking the gag from Strucker's mouth before standing back.

His eyes still clenched, Strucker just about managed to open them enough to see his hated enemy stand before him as he steadied himself from the wrench of the tall man "Ghul!" He hissed, his voice low and cracked from his long thirst.

Ra's Al Ghul gave no indication he had heard Strucker at all as he walked up to the bound man "The price for your freedom has not been met. HYDRA has failed to save you despite my meagre demands. Apparently, your group's incompetence was beyond my initial estimates."

Strucker felt his eyes get used to the light and he opened them more to get a good view onto Ghul. The ever refined man looked stoic and was impeccably dressed as ever in comparison to Strucker's dishevelled appearance "R-Ransom?" The Baron asked, wondering what Ghul had demanded in return for his freedom.

"Yes. A few minor things I felt would have helped my organisation. They weren't able to even secure those for your release. They failed you Strucker, as they have always done."

A glint to his side made Strucker turn that way only to notice the large sword strapped at the waist of Ghul's bodyguard. At that moment, Strucker knew that his fate was sealed "What did you demand?" He asked in a cold voice, wanting to know what had caused HYDRA to personally fail him.

"It's of little importance." Ghul replied as he nodded towards his bodyguard "HYDRA failed to fulfil my requests and your life is therefore forfeit."

The bodyguard unsheathed his sword before stepping in front of Strucker "Wait!" The Baron said suddenly, his mind racing with ways to get out of his situation "HYDRA is still a vast and powerful force, I know I can use it to both our ends if you…"

"No, you can't." Ghul replied as his eyes looked down at Strucker, showing not a single degree of mercy "HYDRA has fallen Strucker. I and various others shall pick up the pieces left once your lieutenants are done squabbling over the remains."

Overcome with a fury he'd rarely ever felt, Strucker pulled at his chains, his skin cutting open as it was cut from the strain of going against the metal of the manacle edges he struggled against "Just tell me!" He demanded "Who betrayed me? Who was it who allowed me to fall into your grasp Ghul?"

Ghul simply gave a faint smile in response as Ubu lifted the sword into position "That information is for me alone Strucker. Maybe you shall find an answer in the next world."

The sword came down before Strucker could say another word. The blow was clean and swift with Strucker's head left rolling on the floor. The body slumped forwards as far as it could in its chains as Ghul smiled in satisfaction "Incinerate the body Ubu, make sure there's nothing left. I don't want any loose ends."

Ubu nodded at that and set about his task while Ghul left the cell, the smell of blood lingering in his nostrils as he walked away. He allowed himself a degree of satisfaction at these actions. HYDRA was now doomed without Strucker. SHIELD and the Justice League had already dealt tremendous damage to the organisation with their campaigns and without Strucker's leadership; the remains would be easy pickings for his League of Assassins. Unfortunately, Ghul knew that other such organisations would grab onto HYDRA's remains as well but that was no great matter, Ghul knew that the League would get the lion's share.

Strucker's capture had indeed been a blessing. Ghul's ally had been completely accurate in revealing the perfect way to capture the HYDRA leader. His execution was planned for even if HYDRA had managed to get what Ghul had demanded. The ultimate goal was the growth of power of the League of Assassins for Ghul's ultimate aim, a plan in motion that would change the globe entirely. As he walked through the lit corridor under the Himalayas, Ghul allowed himself a small smile, everything was falling into place. With his ally in place and the resources he'd get from HYDRA's fall, Ghul was confident that his vision would soon become reality.

Hall of Justice, Metropolis, February:

Underneath the microscope he was looking through, Hank Pym found nothing amid the circuitry he was looking at. The EMP bomb Iron Man had left for others to pick up to help with its research was essentially a run of the mill design aside from the power level it put out. But any number of labs could have produced this bomb and with the lack of any noticeable traits or DNA, it was impossible to trace in any shape or form.

Taking his eye away from the glass, Pym gave a sigh of annoyance. Iron Man had told him about the events of the previous night and how they needed to track down Batman to help find a missing girl. While he had hoped to help, Pym saw that there was little he could personally do.

"Still in here Dr. Pym?" A voice said from behind the scientist. Pym turned to see the smiling and welcoming face of Captain Marvel "You do remember about dinner right?"

Inwardly, Pym slapped himself. He and Jan had promised Captain and Mary Marvel to spend lunch with them to discuss something with the Marvels. Pym, being all too happy to help someone with a technological problem when they arose, had jumped into his task and the dinner had slipped his mind. Giving Marvel an apologetic smile, Pym stepped away from the work desk and walked over to Captain Marvel "Now I do. Hopefully the canteen will be serving something good today."

"Meatloaf and a selection of vegetables." Marvel replied with a grin, evidently looking forward to it "Jan and Mary are already there, we better get going before it's all gone."

Locking the lab behind them, Pym and Marvel made their way down to the canteen as the smell of food wafted down the corridor. Entering the canteen after a brief walk, Pym gave a sniff and made out that Marvel had been right, meatloaf was definitely on the menu. Looking to the right, Pym saw Janet and Mary already sitting together at one of the long wooden tables with a healthy portion for each of them. Giving an embarrassed smile, Pym sat down next to Janet while Marvel sat down next to Mary, the four being the only one in the canteen.

"So glad you remembered that lunch took place at midday." Janet said as Hank sat down.

"Sorry," Hank replied as he took over the tray Janet had gotten for him and starting jabbing at his meatloaf "Iron Man had asked a favour of me, just giving it a go."

"How'd that go?" Mary asked, as her fork brought a selection of vegetables to her mouth.

Pym paused in his attack on the meatloaf before giving a less than sincere smile "Results are pending." He said before quickly taking a bite of his food.

Giving a playful smile at the answer, Mary went to eating her own meal as Pym became determined to steer the conversation elsewhere "What was it you wanted to talk about Marvel?" He asked.

Marvel turned back to Pym and smiled as he spoke "Well Fawcett City Museum's doing a huge outdoor exhibition next month on the natural World. And a huge part of it's going to be on insects. Since it's been so quiet the last few months, Mary and I have really started to help with the communities in the city and volunteered to help out, be part of the attraction. Considering the subject matter, we were wondering if you and Mrs. Pym would like to help out?"

For a moment, Pym stared at Marvel to see if he was pulling his leg in anyway but the earnest expression he held dispelled any doubts in his mind. Pym knew he wasn't seen as the most respected of heroes (Atom beat him to the size technology by three days, not that the jokes people told would acknowledge that) and using his abilities in such a way was usually a suggestion as a joke by Hawkeye or others. Seeing that Marvel was completely honest though, Pym relaxed "Well… I suppose I could help design some of the exhibits. It has been quiet lately. Maybe give some of the students a chance at seeing how ants communicate from a personal level."

Marvel broke out into a wide grin at the acceptance "That'll be great Dr. Pym!" He said enthusiastically "It'll just be what the exhibition needs to really get everyone interested! All four of us should make the day something to remember!"

The hero's enthusiasm made Pym give a smile in return. There were times when he seemed like a child at times with his extrovert attitude "Be nice to get out of the lab for once." Jan commented with a sly look at Hank "Out in the fresh air, helping people in something that doesn't involve destroying a city block by punching out the Wrecking Crew, I'm all for it."

Mary gave a giggle through her food before swallowing "When was the last time we faced anything like the Wrecking Crew anyway? Last major thing I can remember doing is stopping Armadillo from robbing a bank last month. And that was solved by talking him through his problems."

"Poor guy found out his wife had just left him after spending all his money on getting her medical treatment." Marvel continued "Just needed someone to talk to. SHIELD's got some of their psychologists and scientists on helping him return to a normal life." He gave a sympathetic look as he thought about the situation "Hope he manages to turn himself around."

Jan nodded in agreement as she finished off her food "Should do with the right amount of help. Although you're right, it has been awfully quiet as of late. Even Dr. Doom seems to be happy being holed up in Latveria." She paused in thought "Not that I'm complaining." She said before tapping her knuckles on the wooden table to prevent jinxing it "It's just so unusual is what I'm saying."

Setting down his fork, Pym did some mental calculations before coming to his conclusions "Three months since the joint League/SHIELD operation against HYDRA ended. It's most likely that everyone else is hiding for now in case another strike's made against them. Considering the damage we did to HYDRA as a whole, no one would want the same level of pressure put against them."

The others at the table briefly thought to the joint operation against the criminal organisation. Two months of concentrated attacks on HYDRA had led to thousands of arrests, the acquisition of the majority of their business fronts and the destruction of many of their weapons, almost crippling it for years to come. The only major failing of it had been the inability to capture the leadership of HYDRA, although considering the damage done to it; it had been believed that they were low priorities compared to filling in the gap in criminal power made by the operation.

"You think SHIELD or the seven is planning another one soon? Maybe against Shadowlaw?" Mary asked, enthusiasm showing in her voice to tackle another such organisation.

"Doubt it." Jan replied "After the licking we gave HYDRA, everyone's going to be on their toes. No one's going to fall for the same tricks we pulled. From now on, it's going to be a whole new ball game." She frowned a little before shrugging "Ah well, we'll take care of it no matter what comes."

Giving Jan a thumb up in agreement, Marvel finished his food before turning back to Pym "About ideas for the exhibition, is there anything that you'd like to try out?"

With the food out the way, all four turned their thoughts towards the upcoming event and looked forward to it; the fact that they'd be able to display their abilities without it being involved in some kind of fight was quite the relief. Compared to the usual extreme pace of their lives, it was a nice change and was something they could get used too.

Xavier Mansion, Winchester County, February:

This really wasn't what Logan had in mind to spend his day. He had hoped for some quiet time to himself with a few beers and touching up his motorbike. But instead, Xavier had pressured him into helping show round a new group of students. In a way, Logan regretted being the one to suggest finding a way for the X-Men and SHIELD to work closer together, it cut into his beer time.

The group of six teenagers stood or sat in the main hall of the Xavier Mansion, five of them looking nervous while one was practically bouncing in her chair in excitement. From his position at the top of the stairs, Logan suppressed a sigh; he knew this was going to be a long day doing something he didn't care for in the least. Gearing himself up for it, Logan started to slowly move down the stairs, looking over the group and trying to assess them as much as he could. They were a timid bunch definitely, Logan couldn't blame them for that at least, they had been picked up by SHIELD and sent to the mansion to help learn them to control their abilities. Nothing like being dumped in an unfamiliar place with complete strangers to put people in a right frame of mind.

"So, you're the new students then?" Logan asked in a half interested tone of voice as he walked down the stairs, noticing that three of them jumped in surprise from the sudden voice while the one who had been fidgeting looked at Logan with excitement, bordering on awe "I take it you've already been shown to your rooms?"

"Yes Mr. Wolverine sir!" The girl said suddenly, making those around her give little indications that yes, the girl was like this constantly and yes, they had been having to put up with it for the last three hours. Logan gave the girl a look, taking in the chubby features, brown eyes and hair, the serious overbite and the three foot bushy tail growing out of her lower back. She radiated a sense of keenness and enthusiasm that the others lacked, it seemed as she was eager to be there while the others looked homesick and more than a little scared.

"And you are?" Wolverine asked the girl, raising an eyebrow as he also noticed the squirrel perched on her shoulder, nibbling on a hazelnut.

The girl smiled brightly at having been asked a question, overlooking the fact that Logan's tone was barely above monotone in its interest "Doreen Green!" She exclaimed "Eager to get to work here and become a superhero!"

Logan gave Doreen the look all veterans give greenhorns as he took out a cigar packet and put one into his mouth before lighting up, ignoring the looks several of the teenagers. Taking a puff of the cigar, Logan shrugged before giving an evil grin "Fine. Let's get too it then. You six with me and we'll see if you can take the pressure."

One teenager raised his hand nervously "Um… I thought we were just going for a tour." He said, wondering why the short odd looking man with the cigar was smiling in such an evil way.

"We are on tour. The sink or swim tour." Logan replied with a shark like grin "Time to show you the things that show you if you can cut it. No time for second thoughts now. You want to be a member of the X-Men? Here's where you find out if you can make it."

Without another word, Logan turned and motioned with his hand for the group to follow him. One by one, they nervously did as Logan pressed a secret panel on the wooden wall that opened up a door leading to an elevator. He walked in before looking back at the group impatiently "Well are you coming or not?" He demanded.

Doreen practically sprang into the elevator beside Logan, smiling up at him while the others hesitated before slowly making their own way to the enclosed space, second thoughts etched across their faces, something that only increased as the doors closed and they started to head down.

The silence was certainly awkward as the small group tried to avoid looking at each other, only Doreen showing any signs of enthusiasm. When the lift opened to a sleek, futuristic corridor, she practically leapt out, looking round the place like a child at Disneyland "Oh man this is great!" She exclaimed "Where do we go now?"

Logan almost answered but was stopped by a tap on his arm. He looked down to see one of the teenagers, a young Asian girl with a hideous yellow coat and retro pink sunglasses, look at him "Not that I'm nervous or anything." She lied "But do we really have to do this? I thought this was just a meet and greet before lunch kinda thing."

"You wanna be an X-Man kid? Then you take the rough with the smooth." Logan answered, noting that the girl didn't shirk but glared up at Logan as if showing she was ready to take on whatever he had to offer. Inwardly, Logan was rather impressed that the group was holding up so far. They had the option to turn back and were still holding firm. Maybe they'd measure up after all "Alright, this way everyone."

Logan led the group through the sleek corridors until they reached a locked door with a number pad beside it. Punching in the code, the door opened and Logan stepped inside, blinking as a large explosion filled his vision only a dozen yards in front of him. The group behind him jumped in shock as one and Logan felt his eyeballs sear from the sudden brightness and heat of a blast of energy push past his cheek out in front of him. The blast struck against a glass panel, the glare of it making everyone squint from the light before it slowly vanished.

There was silence for a moment before a calm voice with some exasperation in it said "I take it there is a good reason for you and our guests interrupting us Logan?" Logan looked at the room in front of them and saw Charles Xavier, sitting in his chair overlooking the scene down in the Danger Room. The explosion had come from a robot being blown to pieces from a beam sent by Scott Summers down from the floor.

The group of teenagers paused at the sound of Xavier's voice, not expecting to have come across the Professor so soon. Logan simply grinned and stepped forward "Just showing the greenhorns round the place Chuck. Got to show them what they're really getting in for."

Noticing that instead of a danger zone, the room the door had opened up to was instead a reinforced balcony overlooking what seemed to be a highly advanced training room "Um… Sorry about almost frying you there." The yellow coated girl said nervously "Thought we were under attack or something."

"It is no fault of yours." Xavier said as he waved towards the group to come in "Logan should have given you ample warning about what you were facing when you walked through the door."

"Had to test their reaction Chuck." Logan said as he looked out of the window to the scene below, the looks of things indicating that the battle was slowly wrapping up, the remains of robots strewn about the ground amid the X-Men "And I gotta say, I hand it to the one who attacked when they saw danger. Nice one kid, what's your name?"

"J-Jubilee." The girl said, looking mildly embarrassed at the compliment although she tried to hide it "And it was nothing."

"You'll learn different in time." Logan said as he turned back to the group, an explosion taking place behind him as he spoke "Now then, this is what being an X-Man means. Part of it's what Chuck says, learning to live with people side by side to build a better world. But that takes fighting; no utopia's built on words alone. It takes struggling and sacrifices. And there's no off season, no breaks. We take on the worst that's thrown at us and have to come out on top, no matter what the odds. You want to learn how to use your powers and help bring about a better world? Fine, the school can teach you all about that and I'll bet at least some of you already have some of it figured out. But if you really want to join the X-Men, you're going to have to give it your all and risk everything to protect the few good things that come our way. I've told you the risks; do you think you can live with them?"

The Professor had remained quiet throughout this speech, seemingly giving his approval to it. He looked at each person in turn before adding after Logan's speech "While joining the X-Men is one possibility, do not forget that this school also gives you the opportunity to use your skills elsewhere. You can make the greatest difference, not by joining the X-Men, but being an example that we can live side by side with Humanity for the greater good. That has always been our ultimate goal."

The group paused in thought at this; all of them knew that they wanted to be in the X-Men. They were the most famous Mutant superhero group with members even in the Justice League. Their contacts with SHIELD had made them a legitimate in the eyes of many people. Eventually, it was Jubilee who spoke first "If there's a chance to become an X-Man, I'm not going to be the one to let it go. We're here to make the World a better place alright." She gave a little smirk "But we're definitely going to try and have some fun doing it."

A grin spread across Logan's face, the girl had spirit, something he liked. Barely a moment after, the rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, wanting to show that they also felt up for the task before them "Alright then, take a good long hard look at the Danger Room, you're going to spend a lot of time here."

As the group of teenagers looked over to the Danger Room, Logan found his thoughts being interrupted by a familiar voice _"I do not think it is wise to make them believe that being a member of the X-Men is all we do Logan. I do hope for them to have lives that extend beyond the Mansion."_

"_Don't need to be a telepath to know that every single one of them was thinking about being an X-Man Chuck." _Logan replied in his thoughts _"Give them their chance to see if they can do it. If so, the team gets a few more members. If they don't, they get to know they tried their best but need to do something else. Best to let them at least settle it before moving on."_

Logan heard Xavier give a mental sigh at this, having hoped to avoid putting the students in the mindset of having them think that being a member of the X-Men was the only option available to them. Nevertheless, he could see Logan's point. By aiming to be an X-Man straight away, the limitations and possibilities of the powers of the teenagers would be discovered and the practice would allow them some experience in combat, should that unfortunate possibility arise.

Despite the misgivings Xavier felt, Logan was certain this was the right way to go about this. Even if they failed, the group would learn about their limitations and move onto other things. He measured the group up with some satisfaction; it was going to be an interesting few months for sure.

Gotham City, February:

It had been quiet month in Gotham all in all. Arkham's cells were full of the usual suspects and only Riddler was currently on the run, currently thought to be in Metropolis. Aside from breaking the HYDRA base, Batman was enjoying the relative lull which allowed him to focus simply on the streets, something that had put a major dent in Gotham's mugger population. So when the Bat Signal was seen lighting up the night sky, Batman was concerned and hoped that Joker hadn't managed to escape yet again.

Leaving the girl in the care of Alfred and Dick, both of whom had taken a liking to her, it took Batman only five minutes to get to the central police station from the Cave. Making his way to the roof via his usual discreet means, he looked around and saw Jim Gordon facing the other way. Straightening himself out took a moment before he announced himself "There an emergency Commissioner?"

Long since conditioned to expect the sudden appearances behind his back, Gordon simply turned his head at the noise and nodded at Batman "A good evening to you too." He said, alleviating Batman's fears somewhat about an actual emergency but making him even more curious "No emergencies tonight thank God but I wanted to speak to you about the fact that last night I had several dozen SHIELD agents at Port Adams last night uncovering a HYDRA base. They weren't willing to talk to any city cops, national security nonsense as usual. Do you know anything about it?"

There was an edge in Gordon's tone Batman noted, something he was trying to hide perhaps? Taking that into consideration, Batman replied "It was an outpost for any potential activities they may have launched. Nothing came about it, I made sure of that."

For a moment, Gordon's face darkened before going back to neutral, giving an indication that he knew something more than he was letting on "Anything of interest in there?"

Remembering that Gordon had a daughter not much older than the girl he had rescued, Batman realised that the Commissioner knew of the girl and that the questions over the base were a cover to get to it in a way to divert suspicion. The question remained as to who told Gordon but that could wait for a little while "There was a girl there, only a child. She had been kidnapped by HYDRA. From the investigations I've made so far today, she has no family, no links and there have been no missing person reports matching her description from anywhere in the country."

The sudden information dump made Gordon raise his eyebrows in surprise "What did HYDRA want with her?" He asked.

"She's a fighter, a good one to."

Gordon thought about this, realising that for someone to get praise like that from Batman had to be very good indeed. There were much more important issues to be raised though "When will you be handing her over to the authorities? If she has no family, she needs to be taken care of."

"And let her risk becoming a target of HYDRA again?" Batman asked, his head shaking "Either they would find her eventually, or someone else would try to use her as a weapon. I've seen this girl fight Jim, if anyone else discovers her skills; she'd be an open target."

"_Jim."_ Gordon thought, knowing Batman only called him that when the matter was deadly serious "So are you going to take her in then? I give you plenty of leeway Batman but SHIELD is after the girl and they're going to be looking a lot harder at you if you go through with this. I don't have any sway with them to help you with."

"I don't trust SHIELD enough to put her in her care Jim. She could be drafted into whatever program they have for children like her." His lips turned up into a scowl at the very thought of it "I won't allow the risk that she'll be turned into a weapon of some kind by anyone, or become a target for those who'd use her in such a way."

There was a long pause as both men considered the reaction of the other. Both had placed their lives on the line for the other more times than they cared too count and Batman knew he owed a lot to Gordon's sympathies with helping him during investigation, a feeling that was mutual with Gordon knowing that the city would still be in the hands of the mobs or have collapsed under the insanity of the likes of the Joker if not for the Batman. Defying SHIELD was something new entirely though, and put Gordon's career and livelihood on the line.

It took roughly ten seconds for Gordon to make up his mind; his response confirming what Batman thought that SHIELD hadn't entered into the equation "Make sure she stays safe then if that's your choice. I'll say this though, treat her well. If she gets hurt under you care, then I will bring you in."

The statement of fact resulted in Batman nodding "I give you my word Jim. I'll take good care of her. I made the same promise with Robin, remember?"

"Yes, but don't think that I haven't fully gotten used to that either." Gordon replied "I'm still keeping an eye on you; I do not want to see any kids hurt because of your crusade."

"You and me both Jim." Batman said in agreement "They'll both be fine, I promise you that."

That proved enough for Gordon as he nodded at his friend's words. Both trusted each other with their lives and knew that they'd do the right thing. Gordon looked over to the shadows behind the Bat-Signal and said "There's also someone who wants to talk to you about what…"

"I know, I spotted him after I got onto the roof." Batman interrupted before facing towards the shadows "I take it that you're the one you told the Commissioner about last night's incident?"

There was a brief stir from the shadows before someone stepped out, Batman trying to suppress his shock at it being none other than Captain America standing before him. A look passed between them as both men first laid eyes on one another, silence reigning as they scanned each other over "So, you're the Batman?" Cap asked before he stepped forward and held out his hand "I'm Captain America, good to meet you."

Batman looked at Cap for a little while before simply nodding in reply "Fury sent you?" He asked, ever to the point.

Lowering his hand and fighting back his annoyance at the lack of respect, Cap replied "No, I decided to come here on my own. I thought it was important that we discovered what happened to the young girl that HYDRA had kidnapped."

"Well you know. Anything else?"

The sheer scale of disrespect made Cap do a double take and he stepped forward, glaring at Batman who remained stoic "I think I'll need more than that." Cap said through clenched teeth.

"I can vouch for Batman." Gordon said "He wouldn't do anything to harm a child."

Cap looked at Gordon before turning back to Batman, the conflict evident on his face "I'll need more than that to be sure. You're a rogue agent Batman, no clue as to who you really are. How can I be certain to trust that you wouldn't put that girl in harm's way? You already have a young boy helping you as I recall."

"Robin is different; I trained him and make sure he's able to defend himself against the threats in this city. If I ever thought he was unable to cope, I would not put him in the situations that we face."

Batman noticed how Cap was staring at him, judging his words and the tone behind them "I have to admit," Cap said eventually "From what Commissioner Gordon has told me, you are an honourable and well intentioned man, but I can't just let you walk away from this."

"What do you intend to do then?" Batman demanded, his voice showing the edge of his temper "SHIELD has no outposts here, your own base of operations is in New York."

"I spoke to the Commissioner about it. New York has its own share of heroes not including me. But I know about Gotham, it could do with any help it can take."

Batman scowled at that, stepping towards Cap "Are you saying I can't handle my own city?"

Surprise crossed Cap's face at the sudden aggression but held his ground, meeting Batman's gaze with his own "I'm saying that the Justice League could help you defend this city and that perhaps, we could do better to reach out to other heroes when we're in such a quiet period." Cap saw the look on Batman's face and quickly went on "I've already made my mind up on the situation. You've done good work in Gotham but to be frank, in a city like this, you need the help and someone to keep an eye on you."

No amount of dark looks could make Cap sway in his argument Batman realised and there was nothing he could do to stop him. Captain America was utterly serious in his proposal in helping the city as well as watching over Batman. Not liking this by any stretch of the imagination, Batman turned back to Gordon "Is there anything I should be aware of?"

Having watched the tension mount between the two, Commissioner Gordon had been ready to try and break it up if it went beyond words. Relieved that it seemed to have stopped just short of that, he shook his head at Batman's question "Not tonight. We've had nothing out of the ordinary, for Gotham anyway."

Giving a curt nod at the answer, Batman turned and started to walk towards the edge of the roof, pulling out his grappling gun before speaking "Just keep in mind that this isn't New York Captain. Be prepared for the absolute worst people can offer. Gotham has more insanity, more problems and a lot more evil than most cities in this country. Do you honestly think you can handle it?"

"I've faced the greatest evils imaginable. World War Two had a lot of people even worse than your enemies. I'd be more than happy to work with you to fight against them."

"We'll see if you can handle the pressure first." Batman replied, firing his grappling gun towards a nearby building "But if you do manage to handle it, your help will be appreciated."

"Wait! There's something else." Cap said, speaking quickly to prevent Batman from going off into the night "The girl, she was meant to be picked up by Talia Al Ghul; she's a member of…"

"The League of Assassins, I know." Batman said curtly, frowning in thought "This… complicates matters."

"You know of the League then?" Cap said, interested to know what the Dark Knight may have learned about the League.

The frown disappearing, Batman returned to his stoic look "I know of every major criminal organisation. If the Black Dragon or Intergang were to arrive in Gotham, I would recognise them easily. It's something I need to do to protect this city."

With that, Batman dived off the building and out into the night, leaving a perplexed Captain behind him. As he sailed into the night, Batman considered the newly developed situation. While the fact that a hero would be operating in his city without his supervision threatened to add a severe unknown into the already chaotic underworld of Gotham, the knowledge that it would be Captain America was certainly a lot better than the various other possibilities. But he would first need to speak to Gordon in private, to get to grips with this situation.

XxX

It had been a long day for Commissioner Gordon. Gotham was always a place where a cop would be guaranteed to be constantly on his feet on even a slow day and adding the appearance of Captain America to the mix had only added to Gordon's workload. With a heartfelt sigh, the Commissioner leaned back in his old leather chair in his office, glad of a moment's peace before leaving his shift and getting back home for a night's sleep.

Gordon closed his eyes for a brief moment, enjoying the peace and quiet that was so alien in his life when he felt a breeze come from the window to the left "I know for a fact I shut those tight." He said with a slight smile "Have you ever thought about using the door if you really wanted to surprise me?"

Stepping from out the shadows, Batman greeted Gordon with a nod "I find this much quicker."

Standing up from his seat, Gordon stretched his tired limbs before speaking again "To each his own I guess. What's on your mind? It's only been two hours since we last spoke. No disaster on one of you patrols?"

"Two muggings and an attempted hit and run, nothing I couldn't handle." Batman replied "I really came here to talk about Captain America."

Gordon looked at Batman for a few seconds before replying "Whatever you think of it, someone like Cap in Gotham could only be a good thing. You do a lot of good for this city Batman, no one doubts that, but we cannot refuse the kind of help someone like he can offer."

"I know Jim." Batman said with a hint of resignation in his voice "I don't doubt that he'll be someone who can rally the city around him but I'm worried about the fact that he could bring in his own enemies. The last thing we need is someone like Red Skull operating in the city."

A frown crossed Gordon's face as he considered that "Something I would really rather avoid." He confessed "But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, incorporating Cap into Gotham can only help. Never hurts to have a white knight to work with a dark one."

Giving a faint smile at that, Batman nodded "I suppose not. Nevertheless, I'll stick to the night for now. Cap would serve best being in the light. I will be keeping alert though. Just because he has good intentions doesn't mean that it'll work in Gotham."

"We all know how that can be true." Gordon said with a hint of sadness as he walked over to the coat stand and pulled his old battered overcoat from it "Oh, there was something else that happened tonight. I don't know if it has much to do with you but there was an attempted rape in New Town an hour ago. Three gang bangers tried to attack a woman. They were stopped and the woman reported that they were beaten by a man from the shadows. Was that you?"

"No." Was the instant reply, Batman's eyes narrowing "I wasn't near New Town tonight, this is news to me."

"Another ally perhaps?" Gordon asked with some hope "Goodness knows that we could certainly do with it."

"We shall see. Was there any sort of description of them?"

Gordon shook his head as he looked down at a report on his desk, evidently describing the incident "Nothing aside from an odd drop in the temperature. The suspects were left alive, although battered. We hope to get a report off them once they regain consciousness. I hope it's nothing to worry about but…"

Looking up, Gordon saw only an empty room before him and he gave a slight sigh before reflecting on the fact that he'd like to have just one occasion where a typical greeting and farewell were exchanged. Shrugging it off for now, Gordon turned around and left the office for home.

XxX

He stalked along the darkened characters, the lights off, the windows wide open. Only the light of the Moon shone through the open windows down onto the floor. He stalked slowly against the wall, taking care to keep to the darkness, taking time and care in every single movement. To an untrained eye, it was as if there was no one along the corridor, that it was completely empty to all life.

With held breath he made his way through the shadows, careful to not alert his prey of his presence, he would get her this time, he was certain of that. There would be no escape for his quarry this time! Such were the thoughts of the hunter and they were to crash down when he felt a tap on his head. Blinking in surprise, he looked up from his place standing in the shadows next to a window and saw his quarry smirking down at him.

Dick Grayson let out a rather annoyed grunt, the fourteen year old showing his frustration "Oh now come on! How did you get up there?"

In reply, the girl gave a shrug of her shoulders and let go of the curtain, landing on her feet with a flourish. She looked at Dick curiously as he gave a huff of minor frustration "OK, so I'm having a bad night, best seven out of nine?"

When the girl only gave him a blank look in response, Dick had to remind himself that she didn't talk and he wasn't even sure if she knew English. He instead gave her a friendly smile "OK, I suppose that we can say that you've got a good amount of beginner's luck. I suppose we can take a break for the rest of the night and see if Alfred's got anymore chocolate cake we can swipe."

Once again, the girl gave no real reaction aside from a curious glance and Dick wondered if she understood him at all. She certainly seemed to grasp his meaning when he had suggested a game of tag. Dick was somewhat surprised to learn how Bruce's lessons were rubbing off on him as he had started to gauge the girl's stealth and acrobatic abilities from their game. He hadn't even got the idea to do that, it was simply a better option than another night of homework.

Even with over a year of training from Batman, Dick was forced to admit that this girl's skills easily outmatched his own. He hadn't yet tried her fighting skills via a sparring match but if Batman was accurate, then he was probably going to be beaten there too. He had to admit, she seemed friendly enough all things considered, never came across as arrogant, even if she didn't speak, she was all business. This was rather disconcerting to Dick though as she never smiled, never seemed to show anything beyond curiosity and interest. Even with Batman, there were times when Bruce shined through. Dick honestly got the impression that she didn't even have that side to her.

Realising that he'd slipped into some thought, Dick brightened up and flashed the girl a smile "C'mon! Race you!" He said before rushing away towards the kitchen. Barely a second later, the girl followed, her speed easily matching Dick's own. Despite her skill though, Dick knew that she didn't have his complete knowledge of the building itself and seemed to be rely on him for directions initially. He used this to his advantage when the corridor split into a T junction. Remembering that Batman had mentioned that she could read body language, Dick started to head towards the left, throwing his entire body weight behind it.

The girl noticed this and started to head to the left only to stop abruptly when Dick sharply shifted to the right. Barely a second later, she started running in his direction as well. Dick would have been impressed at her speed and reflexes if he wasn't annoyed at how she seemed to not even have been fazed by his attempt at deception. Her ability to read bodies seemed to be almost instant as she changed direction almost instantly after him. Once again they were neck and neck with stairs leading down to the kitchen coming up. With a jump, Dick landed on the banister and started to slide down it, feeling confident he could still win.

Such a feeling of confidence soon vanished almost outright when instead of running down the stairs, Dick saw the girl simply leap from the top of the stairs, her body sailing through the air before she rolled and landed onto the ground floor with her feet perfectly. She took a sniff of the air as Dick landed and rushed off, Dick trying to rush off after her as he got a whiff of Alfred's cooking. He had lost his one true advantage so far, not that it was enough to make him give up just yet.

Quickly catching up with the girl, Dick made it neck and neck with her as they both rushed towards the kitchen, the door soon appearing as they turned a corner. Dick spurred on but the girl was his equal in speed, maybe even better. As he got closer to the door, he saw out of the corner of his eye, the girl giving him a slight smile before suddenly finding an extra bout of speed from somewhere and bursting past Dick completely, reaching the door and bursting through it the second before Dick did.

Realising he'd lost, Dick nevertheless slowed down as he went through the door with a huff before stopping. It had been a fairly good run but nothing exhausting and was a fairly good exercise all things considered "All right, not too bad I guess. I suppose you have some potential." He said flippantly as the girl looked at him, her face turning to a confused expression as she seemed to completely miss the point of his words. Not for the first time, Dick thought that wherever the girl came from, a sense of humour wasn't included in her upbringing.

"My, if I knew my chocolate cake was in such demand, I would have baked more than one." A proper voice said from a little distance away. Both Dick and the girl turned to see Alfred wearing a plain apron with a knife in his hand, balanced over a chocolate cake "I was preparing to bring it up to both of you, I'm glad to see one little task has been averted."

With a broad smile, Dick approached the large kitchen table, his eyes on the cake "Nice one Al!" He said, eager to sample it, looking around for a plate to put his on.

"Not just yet Master Dick." Alfred said "Little Miss shall be the first to get a slice. Ladies first after all."

"Little Miss?" Dick asked before turning to the girl "Guess we really don't have a name for you do we?" He said thoughtfully "Maybe we'll find a better one for you. How about Diana?"

Once more, the girl gave the two a confused look as she was handed a slice of chocolate cake, still wondering as to what was going on as Dick took a slice of cake for himself and encouraged her to eat it through motions. Slowly, the girl held it up and took a bite out of it, her eyes widening at the sudden taste.

Giving a slight chuckle at her expression, Dick chewed his own slice and swallowed it "Yeah, does kick in that way. Trust me; Al does some of the best cooking."

"Some of the best cooking Master Dick?" Alfred asked as he started to cut the rest of the cake "A higher accolade I could not hope to aim for."

"I'd say you were the best." A voice said from the entrance, causing everyone to whirl around to see Bruce standing in the doorway, dressed in a vest and loose trousers, evidently just come up from the Cave. He smiled as he stepped through into the kitchen "Then again, I'm not exactly the most worthy person to judge anyone else's cooking."

"Astute as ever Master Bruce." Alfred said as he passed over a slice of cake to Bruce, giving a look of neutrality as he did so. He was met with a raised eyebrow from Bruce who took the joke in his stride.

"Anything new from Gotham?" Dick asked as he tucked into the remainders of his slice.

"We'll be getting some help soon." Bruce answered, his voice taking on the tone of his alter-ego, Dick noticing the girl beside him stare at Bruce in an odd manner, as if she was realising something different about him "Captain America arrived. He's going to be working in Gotham from now on, apparently to keep an eye on me."

Dick digested this information with his eyes opened wide "The Captain America?" He asked, scarcely able to believe it "Does that mean we're joining the Justice League or SHIELD?"

A stern look from Bruce quickly answered that query "SHIELD want the girl. Captain America said they wanted to help her but I've looked into Fury. If someone with her skills fell into his hands, I have no doubt what he would have planned her."

A smacking noise was heard as Dick and Bruce turned to face the girl, her plate empty as she had quickly wolfed down her slice of cake. She looked at the three and motioned with her plate, asking for more which Alfred gladly obliged by giving her the largest slice. Dick thought about this news and found himself doubting the dark hint Bruce had made towards her fate under SHIELD, especially if Captain America was involved "I guess you're staying with us for a long while yet." He said with a smile.

The girl stared at Dick, her mouth covered with chocolate crumbs as she gave that look of hers, not comprehending the actual words but seeming to understand their attention as a means to show friendship. The ability to understand his body language nevertheless didn't mean it fully compensated for her lack of language skills. As if in anticipation of Dick's worries about the girl's future, Bruce stepped forward and laid a hand on her shoulder, the girl's eyes lighting up at the touch "We'll take good care of you." He said in a comforting tone "None of us will let get hurt."

"I don't think she needs help with protection." Dick said, earning himself another gaze from Bruce, this one a questioning one which Dick knew would lead to a talk later on to find out about her abilities. Overlooking it for now, Bruce rested on the table as he finished off his slice of cake "But that can wait until later. For now, it's a quiet and a night in won't hurt."

"Well I've got a Johnny Cage movie we could all…"

"No." Bruce said quickly "Definitely not that."

"Maybe a Dee Jay CD then…" Dick said before realising his body language must have said more than he let on as the girl put her plate down and gave him a small smile. Walking up to him, she gave a motion with her head and got into a position to start running once more. After a second, Dick grinned and set his own plate down on the table before getting beside her, determined not to lose to the girl at least five years his junior once more "To the Batcave, go!" He called out before speeding off, the girl following him quickly, leaving Bruce and Alfred in the kitchen, both with some hope that the girl would find a home with them.

London, February:

It had been a long, long day for David Hanson. His corner shop had definitely been busy all day long. The kids from the school nearby had been picking up the chocolate bars like there was no tomorrow and the newspapers had been almost torn off the shelves as news sank in that Captain Britain had come out to support a pro-Mutant piece of legislation that was going through Parliament. At the moment, David was just looking forward to shutting up the shop and closing for the night when someone burst through the door.

He was a tall man, almost gangly with shortly cut hair and overly large ears. He wore a worn leather jacket and jeans and held a very concerned look on his face. He barely got into the shop before he started rushing to the remaining newspapers. He grabbed them off the shelves and started to read through them, throwing others aside as he flicked through the pages.

"Oi!" Hanson called out as he saw the haphazard way the man was throwing the papers onto the floor "What do you think you're doing?"

"What's it look like?" The man replied with a strong northern accent "I'm scanning through the headlines to confirm something."

Stepping from behind the till, Hanson walked up to the man, eager to see the back of him when he finally turned around to look at the shop owner "Do you know who this Superman is?"

"Course I do!" Hanson replied, wondering what sort of stupid question that was.

"And Captain America?"

"What're you on about? Get out before I call the police!"

The man gave Hanson a derisive look before turning back to the newspapers, scanning through them as he frowned and looked more and more worried. After a few seconds, he dropped the remaining papers to the floor "This isn't right." He said "This isn't right at all."

Turning back the way he came, the man left the floor littered with papers as Hanson looked on, utterly shocked at this mess "What's wrong? And who the Hell are you anyway?"

The man stopped at the door, turning to face Hanson one last time, giving a false smile as he did so "Me? I'm the Doctor and if I were you, I wouldn't be worrying about the papers, arranging chairs on the Titanic and that sort of thing."

With those words, the Doctor ran out of the shop, leaving Hanson to wonder just what this man meant and felt a twinge of worry that he had been completely earnest in everything he had said…

To be continued…

**Yeah, just a very odd story I got an idea for with a mix of different Universes which I've not too subtlety made references too through the fic aside from the obvious three. Hope you all enjoyed a rather large chunk of writing and I might continue at some point if I get round to thinking as to where to take the plot. Hope you enjoyed reading!**


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